Sexual States of Mind

Synopsis:

A ground-breaking psychoanalytic study on sexuality which maintains its originality today, thirty years after its first publication. The book is a revision of psychoanalytic theory, starting with the work of Freud himself and including Melanie Klein's contributions on the early Oedipus Complex and the Depressive Position. But more than that, it is a metapsychological study of sexuality which provides a different perspective from more well-known ones that relate simply to a descriptive or behavioural point of view. In differentiating adult sexuality from infantile sexuality and polymorphism and perversion, taking unconscious phantasy and the notion of the primal scene as the pivotal point, Meltzer proposes a unified theoretical and clinical model which has proved of particular help in the field of the psychopathology of addictions and perversions.

Description:

'At the core of Sexual States of Mind is a powerful new insight that calls for a reassessment of our entire view of human nature. In this work Meltzer sees sexuality not as an appetite, but instead as an aspect of identity that structures the personality itself, manifest in childish, adult, or perverse states of mind.'
- Hugo Marques, Maria Elena Petrilli, Mauro Rossetti; Gruppo di Studio Racker di Venezia

'...a major contribution to psychoanalysis. I know of no other work that has brought the relevance of sexuality (pivotal in Freud's discoveries) to Kleinian analysis in such a clear and significant way, upholding its centrality in both normal development and in various forms of psychopathology. After reviewing the history of sexuality in psychoanalysis and its structural implications, Meltzer's masterpiece appears in the section on Clinical Sexual Psychopathology. The distinction between adult and infantile sexual states of mind, and between infantile polymorphous and infantile perverse sexuality, makes a unique contribution to the clinical practice of any analyst. The different primal scenes that accord with the different sexual states of mind, the classification of perversions and addictions, the outline of perversion of the transference, and much more, are gems that have changed my work ever since I included them in my toolbox.'
- Robert Oelsner, Psychoanalyst, FIPA, Seattle

Notes about the author(s):

Donald Meltzer (1923–2004) is widely known as a psychoanalyst and teacher throughout Europe and South America. He is the author of many works on psychoanalytic theory and practice, including The Psychoanalytical Process, Sexual States of Mind, Explorations in Autism, The Kleinian Development, Dream Life, Studies in Extended Metapsychology, and The Claustrum, all published by Karnac Books.